Searching for Amelia Earhart

Searching for Amelia Earhart

TIGHAR, via AP

In this undated photo provided by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery in June 2015, Ric Gillespie, the group's co-founder, stands on a beach during an expedition to the South Pacific island of Nikumaroro in Kiribati. Gillespie and TIGHAR team members have made several trips to the island in search of any sign of Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan. So far, nothing can be proven - but he says several of artifacts they've found are from the right era.

In this undated photo provided by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery in June 2015, Ric Gillespie, the group's co-founder, stands on a beach during an expedition to the South Pacific island of Nikumaroro in Kiribati. Gillespie and TIGHAR team members have made several trips to the island in search of any sign of Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan. So far, nothing can be proven - but he says several of artifacts they've found are from the right era.

Since 1989, Ric Gillespie and The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, or TIGHAR, have been testing another theory — and they've headed back to the region this month. They surmise that Earhart made an emergency landing on a flat stretch of coral reef off what was then known as Gardner Island, southwest of Howland. And they've raised millions in private funds to finance several treks to the distant atoll, now called Nikumaroro.